Prospect Marching Knights tops at Lancer Joust

Accepting the Lancer Joust first-place trophy are the band's three drum majors, from left, Prospect High School junior Alex Yoo and seniors Destiny Duraj and Ted Marzolf.Courtesy of Al Moreno

This year's PMK show, "To the Moon and Back," features music from David Shaffer, Morgan "Buddy" Lewis and John Mackey.Courtesy of Rich Benson

Submitted by District 214

On Saturday, Sept. 8, the Prospect High School Marching Knights took first-place honors among a field of 16 Midwest bands at the 34th annual Lancer Joust Marching Band Competition at Lake Park High School, in Roselle.

This year's show, "To the Moon the Back," features music from David Shaffer, Morgan "Buddy" Lewis and John Mackey. The Knights placed first among 10 finalists, receiving the overall highest score.

Prospect also was honored with the competition's Best Music and Best General Effect awards. In the preliminaries competition, the Knights also placed first in its class (AAA) and received four separate honors for outstanding achievement: in Music Performance, Visual Performance, General Effect and Percussion. The Lake Park Lancer Joust was the Knights' first competition of the season.

In addition to Prospect's win, fellow District 214 band Wheeling High School finished fourth in finals competition, after capturing first place in preliminaries competition in its class (AA). Lincoln Way East High School, Frankfort, and Victor J. Andrew High School, Tinley Park, were awarded second and third place in finals, respectively.

"While we felt we'd had a good show in prelims, it was very intense as we walked onto the field for finals," said Ted Marzolf, one of the band's three drum majors. "I will always remember the incredible energy of everyone. They wanted to rock it -- and they did! I'm so proud of this band. We now know we have a solid show this season, and we'll keep working on it with the same level of energy going into every competition."

The PMK 2012 competition season includes travel to the prestigious Bands of America Super Regional competition Oct. 19-20 in St. Louis, Mo. The Knights will also travel to Champaign Saturday, Oct. 13, to compete in the Illini Marching Band Festival, hosted by the University of Illinois.

The Knights will host their own marching band festival, the 17th Knight of Champions, Saturday, Sept. 29, at Gattas Memorial Stadium on Prospect's campus, 801 W. Kensington Road, Mount Prospect. Eighteen Midwest marching bands will compete for top honors while the Knights will perform an exhibition of their award-winning show. Performances will run from 2:30-10 p.m.

For information on participating bands, schedule and festival tickets, visit the Knights website at www.prospectband.com.